What would happen to a eukaryotic cell lacking telomerase?
Answers
Answer:
it would shorten the ends of its chromosomes with every replication
Answer:
Chromosomal length will decrease with each replication cycle.
Explanation:
Chromosome ends cannot be replicated properly because DNA polymerase needs a primer in order to create DNA from the beginning. Telomeres are the structures found at the ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes. One strand of telomeres is primarily composed of guanine residues, while the other strand is primarily composed of cytosine.
The G-rich strand is longer, leaving an area of single-stranded DNA at the 3' end of up to a few hundred nucleotides that acts as a primer for the telomerase enzyme's elongation of the strand. RNA and protein are both parts of telomerase.
As a template for the creation of the TxGy strand of the telomere of linear DNA, the 150 nucleotides long RNA component contains 1.5 copies of the appropriate CyAx telomere repeat. Telomeres won't be duplicated without the telomerase enzyme, and chromosomal length will decrease with each replication cycle.